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Example 5: a mystery! It was sent from Innsbruck to Holland on 2nd May 1938, and is franked with 1 + 6 + 12x0.66 + 12 ie 27 Rpf [the additional 38 Rpf on the Hitler stamp was for charity and didn't count for postage]. The rate for a foreign letter was 25 Rpf for 20 grams, 15 Rpf for each extra 20 grams. It has been marked "T4c" [by whom?] and charged Postage Due of 2½ Dutch Cents.
"T4c" will be 4 'gold centimes' which was indeed about 2½ Dutch cents. Under the regulations applied to Foreign mail, the charge should be 1½ times the deficiency with a minimum of 5 Rpf. The gold centime was about two pfenning, so a marking of T4c is a charge of 8 Rpf, which is a deficiency of 5 Rpf.
Has one stamp been disallowed? They were all valid: the 6 Rpf was introduced on 4th April and the 12+38 Rpf on 19th April. The letter can't have been one step overweight, as that would need 25 + 15 = 40 Rpf postage, making a deficiency of 40 - 27 = 13. It could have been a fourth-step (61 to 80 gram) letter with the charity surcharge of 38 counted as franking: 27 + 38 = 65; fourth step cost 25 + 3x15 = 70; 70 - 65 = 5! But counting the charity surcharge as postage is unknown; and there is no weight indication, nor does the envelope look as though it had contained 60+ grams. Maybe the stamp values were simply added, then deemed to be Groschen: 1 + 6 + 12 + 12 = 31 Gr = 20.66 ie 20 Rpf, a deficiency of 5 Rpf??? Anyone got a better idea?
On 1st August the ordinance of 9 July 1938 came into effect; amongst the consequences was the withdrawal of Postage Due stamps. Postage due and similar fees on letters had to be paid in cash. The German tariffs were now in force, not only for the basic rates, but also for all incidental charges. The withdrawal of Postage Due stamps had been expected earlier: since they bore a large Austrian eagle as well as "ÖSTERREICH" and "GROSCHEN", they were decidedly politically incorrect! The German system had always been to write the amount due on the envelope; they did not have Postage Dues. So the simplest solution was to abolish them. The surcharges were paid in cash according to the [standard German] red surcharge marking. No usage of Austrian Postage Dues after 31st July 1938 is known.
26 August, after the end of Postage Dues on 1st August. Letter from Graz to Maria Enzersdorf with 12 Gr = 8 Rpf + 3 Rpf making 11 Rpf in total. Rate was 12 Rpf, deficiency therefore 1 Rpf, charge "1½ times the deficiency" but rounded up, so Nachgebühr of 2 Rpf, as shown by the large handwritten 2.
24 August, from Vienna to Semmering. Franking is a 24+6 Groschen Winterhelp stamp, an 8 Groschen costume, and a 3+5 Rpf Breslau sport stamp. There is a blue partial box around the Winterhelp stamp, and a blue crayon 24 next to a boxed Nachgebuehr marking. Intended franking: 24 + 8 = 32 Gr = 21 Rpf plus 3 Rpf, ie 24 Rpf for a double weight letter. However, the Winterhelp stamp was not accepted, as it had become invalid on 1st July 1938. [Pedantically speaking, it should not have been cancelled either.] This left 3 Rpf + 8 Gr = 3 Rpf + 5 Rpf = 8 Rpf as valid postage, so 16 Rpf was missing. The "1½ times the deficiency" German rule was applied (correctly so), so that 24 Rpf had to be collected.
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©Andy Taylor. Last updated 25 Aug 2002